QUESTION: When we talk about manufacturing of consent, whose
consent is being manufactured?
CHOMSKY: To start with, there are two different groups, we can get
into more detail, but at the first level of approximation, there's two
targets for propaganda. One is what's sometimes called the political
class. There's maybe twenty percent of the population which is
relatively educated, more or less articulate, plays some kind of role
in decision-making. They're supposed to sort of participate in social
life -- either as managers, or cultural managers like teachers and
writers and so on. They're supposed to vote, they're supposed to play
some role in the way economic and political and cultural life goes on.
Now their consent is crucial. So that's one group that has to be
deeply indoctrinated. Then there's maybe eighty percent of the
population whose main function is to follow orders and not think, and
not to pay attention to anything -- and they're the ones who usually
pay the costs.
lkryder on 12 Jun 14Interestingly, the blogosphere, including microblogging like Twitter, has undermined this manufacture of consent in some ways but also trivialized areas of major concern because of the emphasis on popularity and "like" type responses in social media. But social media has definitely changed the landscape and big data has changed the relationships with the entities in a position to influence and control information and frame issues within the public eye.
